An Irish Summer

My mother always said she had blood from the Spanish Armada in her veins.When we were children she was frequently described as being "black". The reason - she was a sun worshiper and lay out for hours in our back garden - like a lizard basking in the sun.

I inherited her love of the sun. Friends always joke that as soon as the sun pops out, I am stretched in it.

The sun most definitely affects my mood.

I hate to waste a minute of it and that includes having to do anything other than soak it up when it appears. I always envy the peoples of the Mediterranean who just take it for granted.  How they sit by choice in the shade. How they can plan an outdoor meal or a barbeque and never have to worry if it will rain. I envy how they wrap up to walk on the beach when it's eighteen degrees as if it was below zero.

I don't want to appear negative but we have just had over a week of Irish summer. For more than seven days we woke to blue skies and balmy temperatures. For the first time in years I sat in the shade as a preference. We ate out without thinking about it. We had a barbeque and didn't worry about rain.

It took us collectively as a nation, completely by shock. Two years with no summer to speak of and the coldest spring in decades yada, yada, yada . The statistics go on and on....... 

For the first year in absolutely ages I have planted nothing in my garden. No herbs, no vegetables, no salads. After how disastrously they all grew last year I decided that without a poly tunnel there really was no point. Now it is catch up and I am heading off to buy vegetable plants and some bedding and praying to the sun god that it continues at least warm enough to make it worth while.

The animals here, completely unused to it quickly adapted. The pigs in particular slept for the hottest part of the day and when they eventually ventured out again, most of the field was in shade. The rose early and retired late. They became Mediterranean.


I often wonder what other nationalities think of our collective obsession with the weather. But you know when you can afford to take something for granted you have no need to comment on it.

A cold cider in the hot sun

Maybe and just maybe we will get a few more days and then the statistics will again be quoted. The warmest summer on record.....

If wishes were promises.
















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